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LARRY VERMEEREN IS A BAD ASS KAYAKER

This blog is dedicated to Larry V. for being such a bad ass! He has been kayaking and working in Ecuador for the past 15 years and is still getting after it as hard as anyone (in fact, I’d say he’s getting after it harder than anyone).

Larry decided he wanted to paddle a lot in 2008–a sort of New Year’s resolution if you will–and he is off to a great start. He is just fresh off a stint where he paddled for 58 consecutive days in 2008 starting Jan. 1st, 2008(not to mention that he had 9 days going already at the end of 2007, making it a total of 67 days in a row).

So, hats off to Larry!

Saturday, February 16th, Larry paddled in the morning with our group, then took them all back to Quito for the farewell dinner and to pick up 2 new incoming groups. Because of some screwy flight arrival times, he was not able to ride with the group to the lodge Sunday morning, and was not able to paddle with them that afternoon…the streak was looking like it was in jeopardy… But, he arrived just in time (around 6:30pm) just as the sun was setting, and we decided we simply could not stand by and watch his streak get broken. Offers of shuttle driving and allowances for being late for dinner started flying, and before we knew it, Larry was in his paddling gear. At 6:39pm he was heading down our trail to the put in for a evening Pica Piedra run.

I hopped in the Niva to go pick him up and watch in the twilight as my friend–the bad ass–pulled into the eddy above Pica Piedra. It was just getting too dark to see, so I gave Larry 1 encouraging hoot. Knowing that he had run the rapid hundreds of times before, that he had the line dialed, and that he is, indeed a bad ass, Larry peeled out of the eddy, styled the rapid, and completed his 48th day of paddling in a row, keeping the streak alive. Hopefully all you paddlers out there will take some inspiration from Larry–I know I do!